The watershed concept and its use in segmentation : a brief history

TL;DR

This paper traces the historical development and practical applications of the watershed concept in image segmentation, highlighting its evolution from early algorithms to multiscale hierarchical frameworks.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the watershed concept's history, implementation, and its integration into multiscale hierarchical segmentation methods.

Findings

Watershed has evolved from simple algorithms to complex hierarchical frameworks.

Its practical use involves marker-based and multiscale approaches.

The development reflects technological advances in image processing.

Abstract

The watershed is one of the most used tools in image segmentation. We present how its concept is born and developed over time. Its implementation as an algorithm or a hardwired device evolved together with the technology which allowed it. We present also how it is used in practice, first together with markers, and later introduced in a multiscale framework, in order to produce not a unique partition but a complete hierarchy.